The clocks go back on Sunday 1 November, and the after-work walk moves into the dark overnight. Dogs and cats do not read clocks, so the household changes and they do not. Expect a week of early hunger, restless evenings and stiffer older pets, and plan the walk around visibility rather than habit.
What actually changes on 1 November
Sunset in Surrey is just before six in the last days of October. The first evening after the clocks go back it is closer to ten to five. Nothing about the day has really changed, but the daylight has been moved from the evening to the morning, and that one shift lands on a household in three separate ways.
The walk moves into darkness. The feeding times move by an hour as far as your pet is concerned. And for an older animal, the cold and the dark arrive in the same two weeks, which is why so many owners notice stiffness at the start of November and assume it appeared overnight.
Around Cedar Hills this matters more than it does in a downtown neighbourhood. The residential streets between 96 Avenue and 128 Street have long stretches with no sidewalk and patchy lighting, and the greenbelt edges that still had light at five in late October are fully dark by five fifteen a couple of weeks into November.
The feeding clock, and the week of complaint
A pet fed at six in the evening is expecting food at what is now five. Cats are the most insistent about it, dogs the most obvious, and the result is a week or so of early pestering, early waking and the occasional accident from a dog who is used to going out at a certain hour.
Two reasonable approaches. You can move the clock gradually, shifting meals and walks by ten or fifteen minutes a day across the week before, which suits cats, older pets and anyone on a fixed daily routine. Or you can simply switch on the day, accept three or four days of grumbling, and hold the new times firmly, which suits most healthy adult dogs.
What does not work is splitting the difference and feeding at a different time every day. Pets settle into a new routine quickly when the times are consistent. When the times vary daily, there is nothing to settle into.
Start the week before for any pet whose care is tied to set times, and for any dog who is anxious about being left.
The walk, in the dark
This is the part with real consequences. Drivers in the first weeks after the change are driving home in the dark for the first time that season, into low sun or rain, on streets where a dark dog on a dark verge is effectively invisible.
- Light yourself as well as the dog. A reflective surface only works once headlights find it, so pair it with a clip-on light a driver can see from the side.
- Use a fixed-length leash near roads. An extendable one hands a startled dog several metres of unplanned road.
- Check the harness fit before the season, not after a dog has reversed out of it. You want a flat collar snug enough to stay put but loose enough to slide a couple of fingers beneath, and a harness a panicking dog cannot reverse out of.
- Walk against the traffic flow where there is no sidewalk, so you can see what is coming.
- Move the long walk to the morning if you can. The clocks have given you an extra hour of light there, and it is the one genuine benefit of the change.
- Watch the ground. Wet leaves hide broken glass, dumped debris and the holes that were obvious in September. Wet leaves are how pads get cut. If a pad is cut, stop the walk, cover it with whatever clean cloth you have and come in the same day, because pad wounds bleed persistently and pick up debris.
- Carry a light you can point, not just one that makes you visible. A headlamp lets you see what your dog is about to pick up.
Wildlife keeps its own schedule
Coyotes are most active around dawn and dusk, and the clock change drops your evening walk straight into that window rather than after it. The animals have not changed their habits; your walk has moved into theirs.
Our guide on coyotes in Cedar Hills covers leashing, lighting and what to do in an encounter, and all of it applies an hour earlier from November.
The pets who find the change hardest
Older dogs and cats. Cold and dark together make a stiff animal stiffer, and a pet who is sore moves less, which makes them stiffer again. The signs are quiet ones: slower to stand, hesitating at stairs, no longer jumping to the usual spot, sleeping somewhere new because the old place is now too hard to reach.
Cats with changing sleep patterns. An older cat who starts calling at four in the morning in November is often read as being confused by the time change. Sometimes that is all it is. Sometimes it is discomfort, reduced hearing or sight, or a change in how they are feeling, and it is worth mentioning rather than waiting for spring.
Dogs who are alone in the evening. A dog left alone in a dark house, in the window when the household used to be home, can find the first week genuinely unsettling. Leave a light on a timer and some background sound; it changes the room.
Anyone on a routine built around daylight. If the yard trip, the litter box routine or the last walk of the day is tied to “before dark”, that now happens an hour earlier, and it is easy to let it slide to the following morning instead.
Three small jobs for the weekend of the change
- Check the identification. Dark walks and doors opening into the dark are both ways a pet gets loose, and November is when both start. What reunites a lost animal with its household is a tag somebody can actually read and a chip whose registry entry is current. We can scan and confirm a chip at any visit, though you will need to update the registry details yourself.
- Put the lights up. Outside lighting on the path, the steps and the back gate, and a lamp on a timer indoors. Older pets misjudge steps in the dark long before anyone calls it a mobility problem.
- Lay a non-slip runner, or fixed stair treads, on polished stairs and hard floors. Anything loose enough to slide is worse than the bare step. A simple change that reduces falls in an older animal.
When to phone us rather than wait for spring
Most of what the clock change throws up settles in a week. The things worth a call:
- Stiffness, limping or reluctance on stairs that is still there after two weeks.
- A pet who has stopped jumping onto a bed or sofa they always used.
- An older cat calling at night, pacing, or seeming lost in a familiar room.
- House soiling in an animal who has always been reliable.
- A dog who has become genuinely distressed about being left alone, rather than simply bored.
- Any change in how well your pet seems to see in low light: bumping, hesitating in doorways, startling at things they should have spotted.
- Weight gain as the walks shorten, which is easier to correct in November than in March.
For the sudden ones, come in through our emergency veterinary services: a dog hit on a dark street, a sudden inability to use a leg, a pet who has eaten something found in the leaves. Where the picture is gradual rather than dramatic, our veterinary diagnostics team can sort out whether a slowing older pet is simply older or dealing with something manageable, and our medical services team takes it from there. A pet wellness program visit in November is well timed for exactly this.
Our hours are 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Saturday and 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday. Sunday evenings are the longest closed stretch of our week, and the dark is when road injuries happen, so if something urgent occurs after we shut or before we open, call ahead before you leave, or have a passenger call while you drive, and go to the nearest open emergency hospital.
Frequently asked questions
Should I shift my pet’s routine gradually or all at once?
Gradually for older pets, cats, anxious dogs and any animal whose daily care is tied to set times: move meals and walks by ten or fifteen minutes a day across the week beforehand. All at once is fine for most healthy adult dogs, as long as the new times are then held consistently. The one approach that does not work is a different time every day.
My cat starts demanding food an hour early. Will that settle?
Usually within a week, provided you hold the new time rather than giving in early. If it has not settled after two weeks, or your cat is also losing weight, drinking more or calling at night, phone us, because increased appetite plus any of those is worth looking into rather than blaming on the clock.
Is it really more dangerous to walk a dog after the clocks change?
Yes, for the first few weeks, because drivers are adjusting to commuting in the dark at the same time every dog in the neighbourhood is being walked in it. A reflective surface only works once headlights find it, so pair it with something that gives off its own light. On a wet November street that combination is what buys a driver time to react.
My older dog seems stiff since the end of October. Is that the cold or the time change?
Neither, strictly. The cold and the shorter walks make existing joint discomfort more obvious. Stiffness that is still there after two weeks deserves an examination rather than a wait, because it is usually something we can make more comfortable.
Should I change when I let the cat out?
Bring them in before dark and let them out after daylight, and remember that both those times have just moved by an hour. Most road injuries to cats happen in the dark and close to home, and the clock change drops that window straight into the evening commute. If a cat who is normally in by dusk does not come home, or comes in limping, quiet or reluctant to be touched, come in the same day even with no visible injury.
My dog has started having accidents indoors in the evening. Why now?
Often simply because the last trip outside used to happen in daylight and now gets forgotten in the dark. Set a reminder for the new time for a couple of weeks. If accidents continue once the routine is fixed, or your dog is drinking more than usual, phone us rather than assuming it is behavioural.
Does the time change affect indoor cats at all?
It affects their household, which amounts to the same thing. Feeding and play move by an hour, the humans come home in the dark, and the lights and heating go on at different times. Indoor cats generally adapt within days. An indoor cat who does not settle, or who starts hiding, is worth a mention.
Speak to the team at Cedar Hills Animal Hospital
If something about your dog or cat has changed with the darker evenings, phone us and describe it, even if it seems small. Outside our hours, call ahead before you leave, or have a passenger call on the way, and go to the nearest open emergency hospital.
Published by the team at Cedar Hills Animal Hospital.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for an in-person veterinary examination or advice about your individual pet. If you have an urgent concern about your pet, contact Cedar Hills Animal Hospital or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital right away.
Cedar Hills Animal Hospital
12863 96 Ave, Surrey, BC V3V 6V9
Phone: (604) 583-7387
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Sunday 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM